


Small Moments

by radbanette



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Klance is only implied in a few, M/M, Some Fluff, Some pining, the other paladins don't show up that much but still
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-15 03:06:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8040040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radbanette/pseuds/radbanette
Summary: A series of (not necessarily in-order) drabbles showing various stages in Keith and Lance's relationship





	1. Chapter 1

"Blue!" Lance shrieked, running across the surface of the strange planet he had landed on to reach his lion. Blue had landed hard on the surface, an impact crater surrounding the robotic lion. Lance scrambled down the incline towards Blue, terrified that something had gone wrong. He wasn't a mechanic like Hunk or Pidge; there was no way he could fix Blue if something was wrong!  
After quickly surveying Blue's external workings, Lance determined that nothing on the outside of Blue was broken, which was good. However, since the lion was powered down, he had no way to get inside and check Blue's systems. He would have to either wait for one of the other paladins or the castle ship to arrive and help out, or trust that Blue would eventually wake up, granted that nothing was wrong with Blue.  
Lance clambered from the crater and sat on a nearby rock, staring at the planet he and Blue had crash-landed on. It wasn't a bad place; thick trees as tall as some skyscrapers back home blocked out the two suns this planet had and made everything have almost a green glow. The surface was covered in dirt, similar to on earth, and Lance could hear some form of stream or river nearby, although he wasn't sure whether it would be water or not. All in all, it was a very nice place. The only downside was that it was eerily quiet. It was almost like Lance was the only living being on the entire planet.  
"Hey, this is Lance," he said through the comm unit in his helmet. "I crash-landed on some strange forest planet. There's a bunch of trees and it's really quiet. Like, really quiet. Is anyone else here?"  
The comm crackled loudly, causing Lance to recoil a little. "This is Keith," came a warbled but familiar voice. "I'm pretty sure I'm on the same planet as you… Can you see any landmarks?"  
"Trees," Lance stated. "And…" he quickly looked around, "more trees. It sounds like there's a river nearby, but that's about it."  
"I think I know where you are. Stay put; I'm heading over."  
"No way!" Lance shouted. "I can handle whatever's going on all by myself." He fought the urge to glance at the crater Blue made. Okay, maybe having a little bit of help would be nice, but Hunk or Pidge would be more helpful right now, and he would never tell Keith that he needed help from him.  
"Don't you understand, Lance?" Keith asked, sounding frustrated. "We're stuck on an unknown planet for who knows how long. We have no idea where we are, if there any other lifeforms here, and if said lifeforms are friendly or not. Our best chance is to stick together."  
Lance got the feeling that Shiro had had a talk with Keith about working with the other paladins more, but didn't say anything. He sighed. "Yeah, that makes sense. All right, I'll stay where I am. I don't think there are any lifeforms, though. It's pretty quiet here. No sounds except for the river."  
"Just because it's quiet doesn't mean that something isn't watching," Keith said ominously.  
"Aw, come one, Keith," he said. "Don't be so paranoid. We'll just be sitting here, waiting until the others come pick us up. There's nothing to worry about."  
He waited for Keith to say something about how a paladin should always be prepared for a fight, or that danger could come from anywhere, or something along those lines. However, the comm was quiet. "Keith?"  
"Lance!" shouted Keith, startling Lance. "The river isn't actually a river! It's this giant… thing! Get out of here!" Keith cried out in pain, and the comm went quiet, the only noise being slight static.  
"No, no, no," Lance muttered, scrambling to his feet. He scooped up his bayard and started running towards the sound of rushing liquid. He had to get there before something bad happened to Keith. He would never forgive himself if Keith got hurt when he could have helped him.  
Lance sprinted through the forest, worried over what would happen if he didn't reach Keith in time. He didn't have a first aid kit, could use Blue to take Keith back to the castle ship, and didn't know where Red was or even if Red was operational. What would happen if they lost the Red Paladin? What would happen if they lost Keith? Lance pushed that thought from his mind and pushed himself to run even faster.  
The origination of the sound of rushing water was a small clearing that felt about a hundred degrees warmer than the forest. Surprisingly, this was the only place that there was grass. A mottled green creature twice as tall as Lance was swiping at Keith, who was parrying with his bayard. Keith's helmet lay on the ground a few feet away, the eye-guard cracked a little.  
"Keith!" Lance shouted, summoning his shield and jumping in front of him. The creature slashed at the shield with both claws, emitting a roar that sounded like a waterfall.  
"What are you doing?" Keith demanded. "I told you to get out of here!"  
"No way!" Lance grunted a little under the creature's barrage of attacks, but kept his shield up. "We can't form Voltron without you; besides, Shiro would kill me if I came back without you." Lance's eyes flickered to a small mound of grass behind the creature. A small "oh" escaped his lips. "Keith, when I count to three, I want you to turn around and run to the edge of the clearing."  
"What? Why?"  
"Just trust me!"  
Keith hesitated for a second. Lance sounded serious. He probably had some form of plan. "All right," Keith agreed. "Whenever you're ready."  
"One."  
The creature kept slashing at the shield and roaring. It had probably never encountered a shield before, and was angry that its attacks weren't hitting the two boys.  
"Two."  
Keith prepared to run. He had no idea what Lance's plan was; hopefully, it wasn't just running back to one of the lions. They had no idea what this creature was capable of. For all they knew, it would be able to outrun them in one second, or even fly.  
"Three!"  
Once the creature's claws had clashed once more with the shield, Lance pushed up hard, knocking away the creature's hands and shocking it for a moment. Keith was already running, Lance a few seconds behind him. The creature lumbered after them, roaring angrily.  
The two boys retreated into the forest line, Lance grabbing onto Keith's shoulder to stop him. He watched the creature intently to see what would happen.  
"What are you doing?" Keith hissed, pulling his shoulder out of Lance's grip. "We have to get out of here."  
"Watch," Lance whispered.  
Keith turned, and saw that the creature was no longer chasing them, but was staring at the forest. Once it determined that there was no more threat, it turned and walked away. It calmly emitted the sound of a brook, which was soon echoed by three smaller, higher voices.  
As the two watched, three baby versions of the creature crawled out of some well-hidden hole in the grass. They began playing in the grass, with the parent watching over them carefully.  
"See?" Lance whispered. "It wasn't attacking us for the hell of it. It was protecting its babies."  
Keith was impressed. Lance had been able to either see the hidden babies in the grass or guess why the creature would attack them; either way, it showed just how observational the blue paladin could be. But there was no way that Keith would ever tell him this, or else Lance's ego would inflate even more.  
"Let's get out of here," Keith quietly suggested. As he started walking away, he remembered. "Quiznak! I forgot my helmet in the clearing!"  
Lance gave his signature cocky grin. "Well today's your day, Mullet Boy, because I grabbed it!" He handed the helmet to Keith.  
"Don't call me Mullet Boy," Keith warned. However, he gratefully took the helmet back. He surveyed the damage and sighed. "Maybe Pidge or Hunk can fix it."  
The two walked slowly through the forest, trying not to make any loud noise that would cause the creature to feel threatened and leave the clearing to attack them. Lance's legs automatically pulled him back to Blue, and Keith followed. The only sound to be heard was the cries of the creatures far behind them. Perhaps Keith should have calmed down a little bit, now knowing that there were in fact living being on this planet that weren't actively trying to kill them, but he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.  
Finally, they reached the crater that Blue was still lying in. "Lance, what happened?" Keith demanded, turning to the blue paladin.  
"I don't know," Lance admitted, staring sadly at Blue. "Alarms were blaring, and I just freaked out. I tried to land safely, but next thing I knew, Blue had ejected me, and Blue crashed. I don't know if Blue is okay or not; I can't get inside when the power's off." He sat down at the edge of the crater and turned his face away from Keith, but Keith had already noticed his quivering lip. "Some pilot I am."  
"You're a great pilot," Keith stated a little harshly. "When you figured out something was wrong with Blue, you didn't try to keep flying; you found the first place you could land safely, even if it didn't go as planned. And you noticed in a few seconds that the creature was just a parent trying to protect its young. You're smart, Lance. You make mistakes, of course. You actually tend to do that a lot. But Blue crashing wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself." Keith paused, then looked down at Lance, who was sniffling a little. "Are you crying?"  
"No way!" Lance crossed his arms and pouted, but Keith noticed through the face-screen of his helmet the wetness of his eyes and a small tear making its way down his cheek.  
Keith sat down next to Lance and gave him an awkward pat on the back. "It'll all be okay soon, I promise. Whatever issues Blue has aren't your fault; it would've been worse if you hadn't thought quickly."  
A small smile appeared on Lance's face. "Thanks, Keith. That means a lot to me that you would say that. Thanks for being here. Oh, that reminds me, how's Red? Did you two crash here too?"  
Keith was dreading having to answer that, but luckily, Lance's eyes shifted to the sky. "They're here!" he shouted, causing Keith to jump.  
The black, yellow, and green lions all landed not too far from the crater, their paladins jumping out the second it was safe and running towards their friends.  
"What happened, you two?" Shiro asked once they were close enough.  
"Blue just started acting weird, with all these sirens going off and stuff," Lance explained. "I tried to land, but Blue ejected me and crashed here."  
Pidge was already near the bottom of the crater, and was surveying the lion. "Blue seems to be okay," they muttered mostly to themselves. "But there could be some issue, I suppose." Pidge began studying the outside of the lion, looking for any outward signs of internal damage.  
Hunk pulled Lance and Keith into a strong and warm hug. "We were so worried about you guys!" he exclaimed. "Glad to know you're okay."  
"We wouldn't have been if Lance hadn't though quickly," Keith said. "I encountered this creature, and Lance came to save me. He noticed that the creature was just protecting its babies, and got us out of there safely without harming the creature."  
Shiro smiled proudly at Lance. "Good job, Lance. Nice thinking."  
Hunk pulled out of the hug, staring at Blue. "Wait a minute," he said slowly. He slid down the crater and walked towards Blue. After placing a hand on Blue's hull, he shook his head. "Alright, stop playing sick now, Blue. You really worried Lance, you know that, right?"  
Blue emitted a whining noise that Lance was convinced he imagined. However, when Blue raised its head to look at him, his heart leaped with joy.  
"Blue!" Lance shouted happily. He ran down the crater slope and tried to give Blue a hug. He was too small, though, and had to settle for hugging Blue's paw.  
"Blue was just pretending to be hurt," Hunk explained to the others. "I have no idea why, though. There may be some small damages from the fall, but nothing too serious. I should be able to quickly fix Blue up when we get back to the castle."  
"Then let's head back to the castle," Shiro proclaimed. "Keith, do you know where the Red lion is?"  
He nodded. "It'll probably take me a few minutes to get there though."  
Keith began to walk in the direction of Red, but stopped for a moment and turned to look at Lance. He was acting like a goofball, dancing and cheering when Blue stood up. Keith didn't really think it was the time for that (after all, they had to get back to the castle ship and prepare for any future attacks on Galra bases) but he couldn't help but smile. It was nice to see Lance so happy again, especially after he was so upset about Blue.  
He was about to turn around when he saw Pidge staring at him. Pidge mouthed something at Keith, then walked back towards their lion. Keith frowned, not sure what that was about. He began trekking through the forest, back to Red.  
While he walked, Keith couldn't help but remember how he had landed on this planet. Seeing Lance and Blue crash onto the planet was startling, and Keith had responded almost immediately, telling Red that they had to make sure they were okay. Red had seemed exasperated, but agreed.  
Within a matter of moments, Keith found where he had hidden Red under an especially thick area of trees. Have any luck with your crush? Keith heard Red ask him.  
"It's not a crush," Keith stated. "Lance is a good paladin. I couldn't just leave him here to potentially die, could I?"  
You're starting to give me a headache kid, and I can't even get headaches. Just admit it. You like him.  
"But Lance of all people?" Keith asked, the question aimed at himself. "Why Lance? He's annoying, he tells too many jokes, and he doesn't take things seriously!"  
What about when he sacrificed himself to save Coran when Sendak bombed the castle?  
"Okay, he took that seriously," Keith admitted. "And his jokes do lighten some of the tension in the group. And he's smart, and kind, and he's pretty good-looking-"  
The others are waiting on us. As much as I'd love to hear about your little crush, we have to get going.  
While the lion's words were sharp, Keith knew that they weren't necessarily mean. And anyways, Red was right; Keith had things to do. Working out his feelings for Lance would come later.  
Once Keith was securely in the pilot's seat, the two left the atmosphere of the planet, following the others back to the castle ship. At one point, Lance told a stupid joke over the comm, causing all of the other paladins to break out in groans. But when Keith heard Lance's laugh at their reaction, he smiled. Maybe his feelings wouldn't be that difficult to figure out after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed it a little bit from the original version I posted for Klance Week a while back, but the overall story is exactly the same. Hope you enjoy!

Lance's heart sunk like a stone to the bottom of his chest, rudely interrupting the more pleasant feeling of anticipating something good. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying hard to keep a neutral tone despite the heartbroken look on his face.  
"I- I really like you, Lance," Keith said slowly, his eyes on the floor. "But we have a duty to protect the universe, and we can't be sidetracked. The entire universe is depending on us. Now is just… not the time for a relationship."  
Lance took a shaky breath. "Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right. I was just being stupid. Sorry." He pushed past Keith, not noticing that Keith's hands were trembling. Lance wandered through the castle, trying to find a place where he could be alone. Just when he'd found an abandoned corner of the castle he could hide in, an alarm started going off. Allura's voice came over the speakers, yelling that the castle was under attack.  
Lance stumbled to his feet and ran towards the bridge to get into his armor, then get to his lion. Naturally, he ran into Keith, and the two paladins avoided eye contact so that things didn't feel awkward. This didn't work, but it at least gave the impression of lessened awkwardness.  
The battle didn't go very well. They were able to defeat the Galra ship that had attacked them, but only because the five lions individually attacked at different parts of the ship instead of forming Voltron, something the Galrans had not counted on.  
Once they had made it back to the castle and had gone back to the common room of the castle, Shiro approached Keith and Lance. "What happened out there?" he demanded. "When we tried to form Voltron, you two were out of alignment. If it had been more than one Galra ship, we would have been done for!"  
"It's nothing," Lance promised. "We just had a bad day."  
"That's not an excuse," Allura snapped, walking into the room. "Like Shiro said, this 'bad day' could have cost you your lives!"  
"What happened to make you guys act so weird?" Hunk asked, genuinely concerned.  
Keith's face flushed. "It doesn't matter," he snapped. "It won't happen again."

Two days later, in a routine training exercise, the team once again failed to form Voltron. When they returned to the castle, disheartened, Allura was waiting for them, looking unhappy.  
"You two have to get your problems in order. It's affecting the entire team! Tell us what happened to make you two like this," she ordered.  
Keith opened his mouth to reply, but Lance cut in. "It's my fault," he admitted. "Keith and I… we had a disagreement. It's kind of personal. But we'll talk it out if that'll make you feel better."  
Allura didn't look convinced. However, Shiro stepped forwards. "Alright, that sounds like a deal. We'll take a break from training and reconvene in fifteen minutes. Does that sound like enough time?"  
Both boys nodded wordlessly. The other paladins and Allura slowly filtered out of the room, trying to give them some space.  
Lance's fingers clenched. "So what now, genius?" he asked a little harshly. "Your great plan backfired! This was supposed to make things easier, not make them harder!"  
"How was I supposed to know this would happen?" Keith shouted. "How could I know that you'd be so distracting, just being you!" Keith turned away, looking extremely frustrated.  
"I'm not being distracting, you're being distracting!" Lance shouted back. "You're too pretty, I can't concentrate most of the time because of that, and it's not fair!"  
"Yeah? Well you have an amazing personality and you're incredibly handsome!"  
"Oh, really? Well you-"  
"Shut up and kiss!" Pidge shouted from the doorway.  
"Pidge!" both boys shouted at the same time, turning to face the green paladin.  
Hunk, standing behind Pidge, smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, guys," he said. He picked Pidge up and carried them away, Pidge angrily complaining but doing nothing.  
Lance turned back towards Keith, his anger deflating a little. "Let's just agree to be friends," he said slowly. "It'll be awkward, sure, but if we don't avoid each other like we did earlier, the team should be able to form Voltron. What do y-"  
Keith suddenly moved forward, and lightly pressed his lips against Lance's. Lance stood perfectly still, his brain short-circuiting. He didn't even have time to process what was happening before Keith pulled away. "Sorry," he said quietly. "I guess Pidge just got the idea in my head."  
"N-no, it's fine," Lance said, his voice squeaking a little. "That was actually… kinda nice."  
Keith was silent a moment, fidgeting with the edges of his armor a little. "Well, then, do you wanna try it again?" he finally asked.  
Lance's heart jumped. "Well, yeah! I mean… if you want to, sure."  
At that moment, the other paladins entered the room. "I know it's a little earlier than we agreed, but Pidge said that you two were finished talking," Shiro explained. "Are you ready to get back to work?"  
The two exchanged a glance. "Yeah, I think so," Keith answered. "We talked a little, and I think we overcame the problem."  
"We're probably gonna have to talk some more, though," Lance interjected. "You know, just to make sure this problem doesn't come back."  
Shiro nodded. "That's very responsible of you, Lance." He didn't notice that Pidge was behind him, staring at Keith and Lance and pantomiming kissing with their hands. "All right, everyone; get back to your lions."  
The group strode back towards the hangers, Keith and Lance hanging back and quietly holding hands while they walked.  
"Those two are lucky I stepped in," Pidge told Hunk. "Otherwise, they'd still be shouting angry compliments at each other."  
"I'm sure they would have been fine," Hunk replied. "It would have taken a frustratingly long amount of time, but they would have gotten there."  
Shiro turned to face them. "What are you two talking about?" he asked, confused.  
Pidge and Hunk shared a glance, and mutually decided that Lance and Keith should be the ones to tell him. "It's nothing, Shiro," Hunk promised. "Let's just focus on reestablishing our connection when forming Voltron."  
Shiro's eyes flicked over to Lance and Keith. "Well as long as the lovebirds over there don't get distracted by each other, I'm sure we'll be fine."  
Lance and Keith's faces both turned bright red, and they tore their hands apart. Pidge snickered, but started full-out laughing when Lance and Keith glared at them. The laughter was contagious, and soon, even Lance and Keith were laughing.  
Pidge wiped away a tear from laughing and looked at their friends, still chuckling. Keith and Lance were leaning against each other, still laughing. The close proximity didn't seem to bother them as much as it used to. If one tiny peck was able to relieve so much animosity between them, Pidge was curious what a full-blown kiss would do. Love was such a weird thing.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a peaceful night on the planet- okay, so Keith didn't remember the name of the planet. The paladins had liberated so many planets over their few years that after a while, the names all started to blur. But Keith did know that Lance liked this planet; the bodies of water reminded him of home, there were always stars in the sky, and the whole planet smelled of flowers.  
"I wonder if the people of this planet have any constellations," Lance mused, laying on his back and staring at the sky.  
Keith shrugged. "They most likely do. You should ask them before we leave."  
"Yeah, I think I will." He was quiet for a moment. "You know, I think the stars here are more beautiful than the ones at home," Lance stated.  
"I don't know," Keith said slowly. "The stars back on earth were amazing."  
Lance snorted. "You couldn't even see them half the time because of the light pollution. And even if they were visible, they weren't very bright."  
"You never saw them from the desert, then. There, you could see nearly every star in the sky. Didn't you ever look at the stars when you were at the Garrison? I thought you said you snuck out all the time."  
"That may have been an over-exaggeration," Lance admitted, embarrassed. "I snuck out a few times, but not all the time."  
Keith gave Lance a look. "Okay, fine!" Lance said, sitting up and crossing his legs. "I snuck out once, and that was when we were saving Shiro from the Garrison. I didn't really get the chance to look at the stars since we were running for our lives."  
"When we get back to earth, I'll take you to this great spot I know and we can look at the stars."  
Lance raised an eyebrow. "When we get back to earth? Keith, we both know there's a good chance we'll never be going home." His face quickly turned sad, having reminded himself of this fact.  
Keith put a hand on Lance's shoulders and stared at him for a few seconds. "I promise you'll get back to earth. I will fly you back to earth personally, if I have to. But you'll get to see your family again, and you'll get to properly see the stars."  
Lance gave a shaky smile, and Keith pulled him into a tight hug. "Thanks, Keith," he whispered. He almost sounded to be on the verge of tears.  
Keith smiled a little as Lance laid his head on Keith's shoulder. "You're welcome," he said softly. The two of them stayed like that for a while, watching the stars and enjoying each other's company.


End file.
